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An  Address  Delivered  to  the 
Colored  People 


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THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF 
NORTH  CAROLINA 


THE  COLLECTION  OF 
NORTH  CAROLINIANA 


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BY  4LFHEI?  M.  ^ADDELLo 


WILMINGTON,  N.  0.  : 

PRINTED  AT  THE  DAILY  WILMINGTON  HERALD  OFFICE. 


1865. 


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1865. 


./ 


This  address,  which  is  published  at  the  request  of  a  few'  friends, 
was  delivered  on  the  26th  of  July,  while  the  feelings  and  prejudices 
of  persons,  arising  out  of  the  war  had  abated  but  little  of  their  in- 
t  ensity.  By  delivering  it  I  certainly  could  not  render  myself  obnoxious 
to  the  charge  of  seeking  popular? +v.  Publishing  it  will  not  render 
me  more  so.  ^ 

If  it  is  simple  in  its  ideas  and  language,  the  audience  before  whom 
it  was  delivered  will  furnish  any  apolgy  which  may  be  dn*  that 

A.  M.  WADDELL* 

September  6th,  1865; 


o  y  t  ^ 


Mr.  WADDELL  said: 

I  am  here,  my  friends,  at  your  request,  to  speak  freely  with  you, 
to  make  known  to  you  exactly  your  situation  as  members  of  the  com¬ 
munity,  and  to  give  you  my  best  advice  in  regard  to  your  new^duties 
and  responsibilities.  I  have  not  come  to  flatter  you,  nor  to  discburage 
you.  I  have  accepted  your  invitation  in  that  spirit  which  should 
influence  every  good  citizen  and  true  friend  of  your  race,  when  called 
upon  to  do  you  a  service.  It  "would  have  been  very  easy,  and  it  might 
have  been  very  politic  in  me  to  decline  it;  but,  while  seeking  no  public 
favors,  I  have  never  dodged  any  public  responsibility,  and  as  I  be¬ 
lieved  some  good  might  be  accomplished  by  accepting  the  invitation, 
I  did  not  hesitate  about  it.  I  cannot  feel  otherwise  than  deeply 
gratified,  too,  at  this  evidence  of  your  confidence  in  me,  and  I  shall 
certainly  always  endeavor  to  justify  it. 

The  worthy  and  well-disposed  among  you  are  entitled  to  the  sym¬ 
pathy  and  encouragement  of  all  good  people.  I  believe  that  you  will 
receive  it;  and  here  let  me  say,  at  the  outset,  that  it  is  unjust  and  a 
mistake  to  suppose  that  the  white  people  among  whom  you  were  born 
and  raised,  with  whom  you  played  when  you  were  children,  and 
served  as  you  grew  up,  have  all  at  once  turned  to  be  your  enemies, 
because  those  of  you  who  were  formerly  slaves  have  suddenly  been 
set  free.  Sudden  reverses  of  fortune  are  apt  to  embitter  and  depress 
men,  it  is  true,  and  it  requires  more  philosophy  than  most  of  us 
possess  to  submit  uncomplainingly  to  loss  of  property — but  the  white 
people  know  that  you  are  not  responsible  for  their  loss.  On  the  con¬ 
trary,  they  know  that  you  have  simply  accepted  the  freedom  which 
has  been  given  to  you.  They  •  do  not  hate  you — they  are  not  your 
enemies.  Bad  men  have  been  among  you  and  taught  you  otherwise, 
perhaps,  but  what  do  such  teachers  know  about  the  matter?  What 
are  their  motives  ?  Is  it  because  they  love  you  so  much,  or  because 
they  hate  some  other  persons  so  intensely  ?  Will  their  teachings  do 
any  good  ?  Is  it  calculated  to  make  two  persons  live  happily  and 
harmoniously  together,  to  be  secretly  telling  one  of  them  all  the  time 
that  the  other  is  his  enemy  and  wishes  to  destroy  him?  Oh  no,  my 
friends,  such  teachers  as  these  are  laying  a  snare  for  you,  uncon¬ 
sciously  perhaps,  but  a  snare,  nevertheless.  They  are  your  worst 
enemies,  because  they  advise  you  to  a  course  which  can  result  in 
nothing  but  injury  to  yourselves.  As  far  as  my  observation  extends, 
the  white  people,  with  rare  exceptions,  are  disposed  to  help  those  of 
you  who  are  industrious  and  well-disposed,  in  every  way  possible. 

Now  let  us  look  at  the  situation  of  affairs  here  in  North  Carolina 
and  throughout  the  South.  What  is  it  ? 

The  institution  of  slavery,  which  has  existed  among  us  for  a  much 
longer  time  than  the  constitution  of  the  United  States — which  was 
established  and  encouraged  in  the  South  by  old  England  and  new 
England,  contrary,  in  some  instances,  to  the  wishes  of  the  Southern 
--1  nd  particularly  contrary  to'  the  wishes  of  the  people  of  North 
?forc  there  was  any  such  government  as  the  United  States, 


4 


md  afterwards  was  sustained  by  the  United  States  government  as  a 
lawful  institution — this  institution,  I  say,  has  been  destroyed  by  the 
terrible  civil  war  which  has  devastated  this  country  for  the  past  four 
years.  It  no  longer  exists.  There  are  now  no  slaves  in  the  United 
States.  God  has  so  ordered  it,  and  to  His  will  it  is  our  duty  at  all 
times  to  say  amen.  The  people  of  North  Carolina,  except  a  few  ob¬ 
stinate  and  impracticable  men,  who  cannot  and  will  not  realize  facts 
which1  they  do  not  like,  accept  this  fact  of  the  destruction  of  slavery  aa 
settled  and  determined,  practically,  if  not  legally ;  and  the  people  of 
North  Carolina,  in  the  convention  which  will  soon  be  held,  will  vote 
almost,  if  not  quite,  unanimously  in  acknowledgment  of  this  fact. 
Our  people  know  that  slavery  was  staked  on  the  issue  of  the  war,  and 
having  failed  to  sustain  it  with  the  sword  they  are  perfectly  well 
aware  that  it  cannot  be  continued.  Like  sensible  and  honorable  men, 
who  have  been  fairly  vanquished  in  a  war  of  unequalled  magnitude, 
they  acknowledge  the  fact  and  accept  the  consequences.  They  intend, 
too,  to  make  the  best  of  the  matter,  and  thousands  now  think  that 
their  prospects  are  fairer  than  they  ever  were  in  the  days  of  slavery. 

With  this  great  change  in  your  condition  and  relations  towards  the 
white  race,  come  new  duties  and  responsibilities  for  both  races.  The 
old  state  of  things  has  passed  away,  and  we,  all  of  us,  white  and 
black,  must  adapt  ourselves  to  the  new  circumstances ;  but  in  order  to 
do  so  we  must  understand  the  circumstances. 

You  have  rights  now  which  you  did  not  have  before,  but  the  white 
people,  as  a  class,  have  not  lost  any  of  their  rights,  except  the  right 
to  hold  slaves.  A  very  few  of  them  are  denied  privileges  which  they 
once  enjoyed,  but  that  is  a  matter  between  them  and  the  government, 
with  which  you  have  nothing  whatever  to  do.  I  understand  that 
some  ignorant  and  misguided  colored  people,  more  particularly  in  the 
country,  are  under  the  impression  that  they  are  not  only  free,  but  that 
the  property  of  their  former  owners  will  bo  taken  away  and  given  to« 
them.  Of  course  this  is  a  cruel  mistake,  and  most  of  you  know  better 
than  to  bo  misled  by  such  an  extravagant  idea.  The  government  has 
emancipated  those  of  you  who  were  slaves.  It  has  freed  you  from 
bondage,  and  made  null  and  void  the  laws  which  were  peculiarly 
applicable  to  your  former  condition.  It  protects  you  in  your  personal 
liberty.  It  gives  you  the  right  to  acquire  and  liold  property,  and  to 
have  the  benefit  of  your  own  labor ;  to  educate  yourselves  and  your 
children ;  to  worship  God  in  your  own  way  and  under  ministers  of 
your  own  choice,  and  to  seek  your  own  happiness,  subject  only  to  the 
laws  of  the  country.  But,  up  to  this  time,  it  has  done  nothing  more, 
and  the  prevailing  opinion  seems  to  be  that  it  can  legally  do  nothing 
more..  If  North  Carolina  was  fully  restored  to  her  position  and  all 
her  rights  as  a  State  of  the  Union  under  the  constitution,  it  is  very 
t  "  tain  that  the  government  could  not,  contrary  to  the  State  laws, 
^mifer  any  other  political  rights  upon  individuals  than  such  as  I  have 
enumerated.  The  constitution  of  the  United  States  leaves  such  ques¬ 
tions. as,  who  shall  vote,  or  who  shall  sit  on  a  jury,  or  bo  a  witness  in 
the  civil  courts  of  a  Stato,  to  the  determination  of  the  States  respec¬ 
tively — each  one  for  itself.  The  government  cannot  dicta*  vr°c' 
each  use  tts  or  Ohio  who  shall  vote  there,  or  what  the  qu<? 


a  juror  or  a  witness  shall  be.  The  citizens  of  each  State  have  exclusive 
control  of  such  matters,  and,  therefore,  if  North  Carolina  is  recognized 
now  as  a  State  having  the  same  constitutional  rights  as  any  other 
State,  the  question  whether  you  will  be  allowed  to  vote,  sit  on  juries, 
&c.,  &c.,  is  not  for  the  government,  but  for  the  citizens  of  North  Caro¬ 
lina  to  determine.  What  the  exact  position  of  North  Carolina  towards 
the  general  government  is,  I  confess  my  inability  to  inform  you. 

Being  a  new  question  in  the  politics  of  this  country,  it  remains  to 
be  settled  by  the  proper  authorities.  One  thing  is  certain,  viz :  That 
you  cannot  vote  now ,  under  the  regulations  established  by  the  Presi¬ 
dent  for  the  reorganization  of  the  State  government.  The  people  of 
North  Carolina,  in  the  convention  which  will  soon  assemble,  may  pass 
a  law  prohibiting  any  white  man  from  voting  unless  he  can  read  and 
write,  or  unless  ho  owns  a  certain  quantity  of  land  or  other  property, 
or  unless  he  has  or  does  some  other  thing.  Free  colored  men  voted 
in  North  Carolina  until  the  year  1835 — then  they  were  prohibited ; 
and  during  all  that  time,  when  they  were  allowed  to  vote,  there  were 
thousands  of  whito  men  in'  the  State  who  could  not  vote  for  a  member 
of  the  State  Senate.  No  one,  white  or  colored,  could  voto  for  senator 
unless  he  owned  fifty  acres  of  land  six  months  before  the  election. 
Some  colored  men  owned  that  much  land  and  voted,  whilo  thousands 
of  white  men  did  not  own  that  much  and  could  not  voto.  This  law 
requiring  a  voter  for  senator  to  own  fifty  acres  was  not  altered  until 
about  eleven  years  ago.  So  you  see  if  thoro  is  any  hardship  in  being 
denied  the  right  of  suffrage,  it  is  a  hardship  which  -whito  men  liavo 
had  to  submit  to  as  well  as  colored  men.  Colored  men  are  not  allow¬ 
ed  to  vote  in  some  of  those  very  Northern  States  where  their  best 
friends  are  supposed  to  reside,  and  in  every  Stato  where  they  do  voto 
they  are  obliged  either  to  be  able  to  read  and  write,  or  own  a  certain 
amount  of  property,  or  both.  It  comes  with  very  bad  graco,  therefore, 
from  persons  from  those  States  to  insist  upon  others  doing  for  the 
colored  man  what  they  will  not  do  for  him  themselves.  The  colored 
men  at  the  North  are  comparatively  very  few  in  number,  too,  and,  as 
a  class,  have  enjoyed  better  opportunities  of  education  and  improve¬ 
ment  than  most  of  you,  and,  therefore,  are  better  qualified  to  voto 
understandingly,  although  their  voto  is  a  mere  “drop  in  the  bucket 
after  all. 

Many  persons  think  that  there  should  bo  a  qualification  of  all 
\  voters — that  is  to  say,  no  man  should  voto  unless  ho  is  qualified  by 
education,  or  an  interest  in  the  soil,  or  tho  like,  to  voto  understand¬ 
ingly,  and  such  is  my  opinion.  Tho  right  to  voto  for  one’s  rulers  is  a 
great  privilege,  enjoyed  only  by  a  free  people,  but  it  is  a  privilege 
which  is  greatly  abused.  I  look  upon  universal,  unrestricted  free 
suffrage  as  a  curse  instead  of  a  blessing,  and  I  think  experience  has 
proved  the  correctness  of  my  opinion. 

I  believe  the  true  and  just  rule  to  be  to  adopt  a  standard  of  qualifi¬ 
cation  for  voters  of  some  kind,  either  of  intelligence  or  property,  or 
both,  and  to  allow  every  man  who  can  attain  that  standard  to  voto, 
whether  ho  be  white,  black,  green,  yellow,  red  or  any  other  color,  and 
to  prohibit  any  from  voting  who  cannot  attain  that  standard.  Ibis 
is  my  honest  and  candid  opinion,  and  I  utter  it  without  feai  01  tn>> 


0 


hope  of  reward ;  but  as  I  came  here  to  tel]  you  “  the  truth,  the  whole 
truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth,”  I  must  add  that  I  do  not  believe 
that  a  majority  of  my  fellow-citizens  think  and  feel  as  I  do  on  this 
subject,  though  I  believe  the  time  will  come  when  my  views  will 
prevail  in  North  Carolina.  I  believe  that  there  are  some  colored  men 
in  this  hall  who  could  vote  noAV  with  quite  as  intelligent  a  conception 
of  what  they  were  doing  as  many  white  men ;  but  I  believe,  also,  that 
a  large  majority  of  the  colored  people  are  not  yet  qualified  to  exercise 
this  privilege.  They  have  no  acquaintance  with  politics — they  cannot 
understand  fully  the  questions  which  their  votes  would  help  to 
decide — and  consequently  they  vroulcl  be  mere  tools  in  the  hands  of 
demagogues.  Time  would  remedy  all  this,  and  the  number  of  colored 
voters  in  proportion  to  population  would  increase  with  the  spread  of 
education  among  you.  Every  man  would  strive  to  educate  hi3  chil¬ 
dren  and  fit  them  for  the  duties  of  a  citizen,  and  with  this  stimulus 
before  you,  the  elevation  of  your  race  in  the  scale  of  humanity  would 
’  be  rapid  and  sure.  I  speak  this  much  upon  the  subject  of  suffrage 
because  I  am  informed  that  it  is  a  subject  which  occupies  much  of 
your  thoughts,  and  about  which  you  feel  great  anxiety.  The  right  to 
vote  is  all  that  stands  between  you  and  the  title  of  “American  citizen.” 
Whether  that  right  will  be  extended  to  you  or  not  I  cannot  tell.  I 
have  already  expressed  my  willingness  to  see  those  of  you  vote  who 
can  reach  the  common  standard  which  I  think  should  be  erected  for 
all  citizens,  but  I  have  also  stated  that  I  am  in  advance  of  the  public 
opinion  in  North  Carolina. 

One  thing,  however,  I  think  all  ought  to  agree  to,  and  that  is,  that 
if  you  cannot  vote  you  ought  not  to  be  taxed,  and  this  act  of  justice 
will,  at  least,  I  believe,  be  performed  towrards  you,  especially  as  your 
presence  among  us  will  give  us  more  representatives  in  Congress  than  , 
we  ever  had  there.  Each  State  is  entitled  to  one  representative  in 
Congress  for  every  ninety  thousand  inhabitants,  and  under  the  old 
system  three-fifths  of  all  the  slaves  were  counted.  Now  there  being 
no  slaves,  and  all  being  free,  all  will  be  counted,  making  the  number 
two-fifths  greater,  and  thus  giving  North  Carolina  one  or  two  more 
members  of  Congress.  To  free  you  from  taxes  in  case  you  tire  not 
allowed  to  vote,  will  be  little  enough  to  compensate  for  this  advantage 
to  us. 

But  I  wish  you  never  to  lose  sight  of  one  thing,  my  friends,  and 
that  is,  that  while  you  would  doubtless  rejoice  at  a  law  allowing  you 
to  vote,  you  are  bound  to  obey  the  law  if  it  should  be  otherwise. 
Recollect  that  a  large  majority  of  the  people  of  North  Carolina  are 
whites,  and  that,  therefore,  whether  you  vote  or  not,  they  will  always 
control  the  State;  they  will  control  it  by  a  majority  if  you  do  vote. 
The  majority  must  govern.  The  United  States  government  asserted 
and  maintained  that  doctrine  in  the  war  which  has  just  closed.  It 
will  continue  to  assert  and  maintain  that  doctrine,  and  you  cannot 
resist  it  without  inviting  destruction  upon  yourselves.  Let  the  present 
condition  of  these  Southern  States  be  a  warning  to  all  who  would 
undertake  to  defy  the  authority  and  power  of  the  United  States  over 
ail  its  territory.  It  is  now  one  of  the  most  powerful  governments,  if 
Dor  *Le  most  oowerful,  on  earth.  It  has  given  vou  all  the  freedom 


i 


you  enjoy,  and  it  would  be  very  unwise  to  incur  its  displeasure,  and 
bring  down  its  wrath  upon  your  heads. 

Now  let  us  drop  the  matter  of  suffrage,  and  turn  to  something  still 
more  closely  affecting  you,  as  it  concerns  the  means  of  obtaining3 your 
daily  bread,  and  touches  your  every  day  life.  You  have  heretofore 
constituted  principally  the  laboring  population  of  the  South. 

You  will,  hereafter,  necessarily  be  laborers,  but  you  will  not  be  the 
only  laborers.  The  institution  of  slavery  was  all  that  kept  foreign 
immigration  from  our  shores.  The  tide  of  foreigners  set  to  the  North 
and  West,  where  they  could  buy  good  lands  very  cheap,  live  in  a  free 
State,  and  give  their  children  the  best  advantages  of  education.  A 
very  large  proportion  of  these  are  the  most  laborious  and  thrifty 
people  in  the  world.  They  have  no  stumps  in  their  fields,  no  un- 
painted,  dilapidated  buildings,  nor  broken  down  fences  on  their  land. 
Their  farms  are  like  garden-patches,  and  under  the  influence  of  their 
intelligent  industry,  the  wilderness  blossoms  as  the  rose.  They 
improve  and  enrich  any  country  they  may  inhabit.  Now,  since  the 
abolition  of  slavery  has  removed  the  only  obstacle  in  the  way,  these 
thrifty,  intelligent  people  are  coining  out  to  the  South.  The  climate, 
the  soil,  and  the  certainty  of  prosperity,  invite  them  to  our  land.  The 
tide  will  soon  turn  in  this  direction,  and  when  they  come  with  their 
intelligence,  stout  hearts  and  sturdy  arms  to  settle  among  us,  you  will 
have  to  bestir  yourselves,  or  be  left  far  behind  in  the  race.  Lazy, 
thriftless  people,  white  or  black,  will  inevitably  be  elbowed  ont  of  the 
way,  to  make  room  for  the  industrious,  the  active  and  the  enterprising. 


The  land  will  be  a  bee-hive,  and  the  drones  will  perish.  There  is 
every  inducement  for  you  to  become  enlightened,  upright  and  indus¬ 
trious  members  of  the  community.  Every  consideration  of  self-interest 
impels  you  to  it. 

With  your  newr  rights  you  have  responsibilities  which  were  not 
imposed  upon  you  before.  The  marriage  relation,  which  in  the  days 
of  slavery  had*' no  legal  force,  is  now  equally  as  binding  upon  you  as 
upon  the  whites.  The  law  will  compel  you  to  observe  the  duties 
incident  to  this  relation,  and  for  any  violation  of  them  you  will  be 
punished  as  wdiite  people  are  punished.  The  loose  ideas  which  have 
prevailed  among  you  on  this  subject  must  cease.  You  will  have  to 
supoort  and  take  care  of  your  families.  You  cannot  abandon  them 
at  your  pleasure.  The  aged  and  infirm,  who  were  formerly  a  charge 
upon  their  owners,  now  fall  to  your  care.  YYu  will  have  to  support 
them.  You  had  no  inducements  when  you  were  slaves  to  be  econom¬ 
ical  and  saving,  and  consequently  you  were  careless  about  money,  and 
contracted  habits  of  extravagance.  These  habits  will  have  to  be  aban¬ 
doned  now,  and  more  particularly  because  your  wages  cannot  reason¬ 
able  be  expected  to  be  very  high.  The  white  people  of  the  South  are 
greatly  reduced  in  circumstances.  The  war  winch  effected  your  free¬ 
dom  has  destroyed  the  wealth  of  the  country  The  capital  invested  m 
slaves  alone  amounted  to  about  two  thousand  five  hundred  millions  of 
doffars.  This,  for  one  item,  is  gone.  They  have  lost  as  much  more 
in  various  ways.  Your  freedom  was  obtained  at  a  tremendous  sacri- 
fioe  of  blood  and  treasure,  and  this  poverty  of  the  country  in  which 
you  necessarily  share  is  a  part  of  the  price  you  have  to  pay  for  it. 


8 


You  ought  to  establish  schools  for  the  education  of  your  children, 
and  lay  up  money  for  a  rainy  day.  You  ought  to  devoto  all  the 
energies  of  your  nature  to  the  task  of  elevating  your  race.  You  ought 
to  do  all  you  can  to  show  to  the  world  that  you  deserve  and  can 
maintain  the  freedom  and  tlie  privileges  which  have  been  bestowed 
upon  you.  In  these  efforts  every  good  man  will  bid  you  God-speed, 
and  before  them  every  prejudice  of  those  who  look  upon  you  with 
distrust  will  melt  away.  But  let  me  tell  you  that  in  order  to  succeed 
in  these  efforts  you  will  have  to  prove  yourselves  an  exception  to 
every  instance  of  emancipation  which  has  ever  happened  in  the  history 
of  your  race. 

The  faith  of  many  people  in  the  idea  of  emancipation  has  been 
greatly  shaken  by  the  experience  of  other  countries.  In  some  of  the 
West  Indies,  through  the  extraordinary  exertions  of  some  humane 
and  philanthropic  men,  the  colored  people  who  were  emancipated 
about  a  half  century  ago,  after  a  long  night  of  degeneracy  and 
degradation,  are  beginning  to  advance  in  the  career  of  civilization ; 
but  in  St.  Domingo  and  Jamaica  they  have  relapsed  into  a  state  of 
barbarism,  and,  in  an  instance  related  to  me  a  few  days  ago,  by  an 
eye-witness,  as  having  occurred  about  the  first  of  the  present  year, 
twenty  or  more  of  the  inhabitants  were  condemned  to  death  for  eating 
human  flesh.  The  great  advantage  which  your  race  enjoys  here  is 
contact  and  daily  association  with  the  white  race.  Their  influence 
upon  you,  as  far  as  civilization  is  concerned,  must  be  beneficial,  and, 
therefore,  you  ought  to  cultivate  the  friendship  and  good-will  of  tho 
white  people,  and  not  to  array  yourselves  in  feeling  against  them.  By 
doing  the  latter  you  have  everything  to  lose  and  nothing  to  gain.  Tho 
poAver  which  is  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  majority  of  the  people  will 
not  be  used  for  your  benefit,  if  you  undertake  to  ignore  and  disregard 
that  majority.  Do  not  strike  too  high.  Ambition,  within  decent 
limits  is  very  commendable,  but  it  is  Avise  to  remember  that  “by  that 
sin  fell  the  angels.”  If  you  make  a  mistake  in  this  direction  it  may 
set  you  back  instead  of  helping  you  forward. 

As  far  as  human  agency  is  concerned  in  the  management  of  human 
affairs,  intelligence  and  wealth  are  the  controlling  influences.  They 
are  bound  to  govern.  In  our  country  wealth  is  the  result  of  intelli¬ 
gence  and  industry,  and  it  is  shorn  of  none  of  its  power  here.  You 
are,  as  I  said  just  now,  the  laboring  population  of  tho  country.  In¬ 
telligence  and  industry  may,  and  doubtless  will,  transform  some  of 
you  into  the  class  of  capitalists — but  these  are  the  only  means  by 
which  you  can  reach  that  end.  Here  then  lies  the  path  on  which  you 
should  traA^el.  Seek  knowledge — be  industrious — avokk.  Lead  quiet 
and  orderly  li\Tes,  and  obey  tho  laws,  and  you  Avill  prosper.  Disregard 
these  injunctions,  and  fifty  years  from  to-day  your  race  in  these  States 
will  be  noarlv  extinct. 

These  are  some  of  your  duties  and  responsibilities  in  tho  new  sit¬ 
uation  in  Avhich  you  are  placed.  The  white  people  have  their  duties 
and  responsibilities  also,  and  I  hope  and  believe  they  will  endeavor  to 
perform  them.  We — the  two  races — occupy  the  samo  land  ;  we  are 
dwelling  together,  under  one  government.  It  seems  to  be  the  will  of 
Providence  that  for  some  time  at  least,  if  not  for  all  time,  the  two 


civilizations  should  exist  side  by  side,  though  in  some  respects  they 
will  always  bo  soparato  and  distinct.  Wo  cannot  desire  to  see  you 
degenerate  into  a  condition  of  degradation,  idleness  and  vieo.  Con¬ 
stituting  so  largo  a  portion  of  the  community,  the  interests  of  all 
would  be  affected  by  such  a  condition  of  tilings.  The  teachings  of  our 
religion,  and  of  humanity,  as  well  as  our  hopes  of  prosperity  forbid 
it.  It  is  our  duty  and  it  is  our  interest  to  aid  you  in  the  elevation  and 
improvement  of  your  race,  and  this  aid,  if  you  prove  yourselves  worthy 
of  it,  you  will  receive.  You  cannot  expect  everything  to  be  accom¬ 
plished  for  you  in  a  day.  The  improvement  of  your  condition  must 
be  the  work  of  time.  Your  simple  freedom  is  the  result  of  many 
years’  agitation  of  the  slavery  question,  winding  up  with  four  long 
years  of  terrible,  bloody  war.  If  you  are  only  true  to  yourselves  now 
and  in  the  future  you  have  everything  to  hope  from  the  generosity  and 
justice  of  tho  white  people.  I  wish  to  impress  upon  you  tho  fact  that 
they  are  disposed  to  be  friendly  towards  those  of  you  who  show  tho 
right  spirit,  and  only  towards  those.  And  I  wish  to  impress  this  upon 
you  for  your  own  sakes  particularly,  and  not  for  theirs,  for  I  am  well 
satisfied  that  the  question  of  the  two  races  living  harmoniously  and 
prosperously  together,  rests  entirely  with  you  for  determination.  I 
most  sincerely  believe,  that  some,  a  great  many,  of  the  truest  and  best 
friends,  the  most  disinterested  friends  you  have  in  this  world,  are  to  be 
found  right  hero  amongst  former  slaveholders.  Many  of  tho  most  in¬ 
telligent  among  you  know  this  very  well,  and  acknowledge  it,  and  act 
upon  it.  Continue  to  believe  it  and  act  upon  it  and  you  will  not  be 
'  betrayed.  Justice  requires  me  to  say  that  I  think  you  have  received 
your  freedom,  generally  speaking,  with  a  spirit  worthy  of  praise. 

Some  colored  people  havo  a  very  imperfect  and  incorrect  idea  of  tho 
freedom  which  has  been  given  to  them,  it  is  true,  but  this  was  to  bo 
expected  and  was  not  unnatural.  They  ought,  however,  to  be  put 
right  in  the  matter,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  the  influential  the  leadeis 
among  you  to  see  to  this  thing.  Aou  ought  to  make  them  undci stand 
that  freedom  does  not  mean  tho  right  to  do  as  they  please  without  re¬ 
gard  to  other  people  ;  that  it  does  not  give  them  the  right  to  injure, 
to  insult  or  annoy  other  people,  white  or  black,  or  to  lounge  a  mut  in 
idleness — this  is  tho  freedom  of  savages.  Tho  educated  few  among 
you  will  have  most  influence  in  shaping  tho  destiny  of  your  race,  and 
therefore  the  responsibilities  of  your  station  are  very  great.  1  hope 
you  appreciate  them  and  will  act  accordingly. 

I  have  only  one  or  two  other  topics  upon  which  to  advise  you  and  then 
my  task  will  be  finished.  It  is  not  to  the  interestof  tho  colored  people  to 
crowd  into  the  cities  and  towns  in  too  great  numbers.  TV  hat  they  all  as 
a-  class  want  now  is  good,  steady  employment,  at  fair  wages,  on  he  farms, 
turpentine  lands,  timbor  swamps,  mines,  railroads,  navigable  streams, 
&c.,  &c.,  of  tho  country.  Their  first  duty  to  themselves  and  their 
families  is  to  provide  the  means  of  subsistence  for  the  present,  am  ,  1 
possible,  to  secure  situations  which  will  enable  them  to  ‘‘lay  aside 
something  for  a  rainy  day.”  They  ought  to  make  it  a  chief  object  to 
save  enough  to  buy  alittloland  as  soon  as  possible,  and,  when  bought, 
to “e  on  it  immediately  and  cultivate  it  cliUgently.  Onty  a  fewof 
you  are  what  are  called  skilled  laborers,  and  these  few  will  kn 


10 


competition  with  skilled  white  labor  greater  than  they  ever  experienced 
before.  A  new  era  has  dawned  for  you,  to  be  sure,  but  a  new  era  has 
also  dawned  for  the  country.  This  good  old  state  of  North  Carolina, 
God  bless  her,  is  wide  awake  now,  if  she  never  was  before,  and  her 
future  is  as  bright  as  that  of  any  state  in  the  union.  She  has  re¬ 
sources  of  which  the  world  is  profoundly  ignorant,  and  which  when 
developed  will  make  her  the  richest  state  in  the  south.  She  is  about 
starting  on  a  career  of  prosperity  heretofore  unknown — a  prosperity 
which  will  shed  its  blessings  upon  all  her  children  of  whatever  color 
or  race,  who  seek  to  benefit  thereby.  I  would  encourage  you,  my 
friends,  to  entitle  yourselves  to  a  participation  in  this  prosperity.  I 
would  urge  you  as  a  friend  who  desires  to  see  yon  enjoy  all  the  hap¬ 
piness,  and  good  fortune  to  which  yon  can  justly  lay  claim,  to  seek 
employment,  to  labor  diligently  to  improve  your  condition  and  elevato 
your  race,  to  abide  faithfully  by  the  laws,  to  educate  your  children  and 
to  live  in  such  a  way  as  to  command  the  respect  and  sympathy  of  your 
fellow-men.  You  must  not  judge  the  future  by  the  present.  Every¬ 
thing  is  in  an  unsettled  condition  now.  Military  authority  necessarily 
prevails  until  the  civil  authority  can  be  fully  established,  society  is 
demoralized,  and  evils  are  common.  But  this  will  not  last  long.  The 
machinery  of  civil  government  will  soon  be  put  in  motion.  Elections 
will  be  held,  the  courts  will  bo  open  for  the  punishment  of  crime,  and 
the  dispensation  of  justice,  and  law  and  order  will  once  again  be  fully 
restored  to  this  recently  afflicted  land.  God  speed  the  day,  and  may 
He  who  rules  the  destinies  of  all  send  us  permanent  peace  and  hap¬ 
piness  and  prosperity. 


CAM)  FROM  A.  M.  WADDELL,  Esq, 


August  31,  1865. 

To  the  Editor  of  'The  Wilmington  Herald: 

Sin  :  In  your  morning  edition  of  to-day  you  are  pleased  to  allude  to 
the  “  Lecture  ”  delivered  by  me  to  the  colored  people,  at  their  request 
a  few  weeks  since,  and  in  }rour  comments  upon  that  portion  of  it  re¬ 
garding  suffrage,  while  courteously  placing  mv  argument  on  “honor¬ 
able  grounds, ”  you  do  me  injustice  in  your  inferences.  I  have  nothing 
to  explain  away ,  be  it  understood,  and  nothing  to  modify.  1  am  per¬ 
fectly  Willing  to  abide  by  the  opinions  expressed  by  me  in  that  address. 
I  distinctly  stated  that  1  believed  a  majority  of  my  fellow -citizens  dis¬ 
agreed  with  me  ;  but  as  I  had  no  political  favors  to  ask  of  them,  and 
entertained  the  convictions  uttered,  I  saw  no  reason  why  I  should  not 
give  expression  to  them.  The  present  is  certainly  not  a  time  to  avoid 
responsibility,  or  dissemble  one’s  true  sentiments. 

For  some  reason  the  colored  people  selected  me  as  one  in  whom 
they  had  confidence  to  explain  to  them  their  situation,  their  rights  and 
their  duties.  I  did  so  candidly  and  truthfully.  Upon  the  subject  of 
suffrage  about  which  the  more  intelligent  of  them  were,  and  are, 
greatly  exercised,  I  stated  the  law  and  the  President’s  policy  of  re¬ 
habilitation,  and  intimated  very  plainly  to  them  that  there  was  little 
probability  of  a  change  in  their  favor ;  but  I  also  gave  my  individual 
opinion  on  the  question  which  was,  and  is,  that  universal  suffrage  is 
a  curse  and  a  humbug — that  a  qualification  of  some  kind  ought  to  be 
adopted  for  all  voters,  and  that  every  man  who  attains  that  qualifi¬ 
cation  ought  to  be  allowed  to  vote,  and  all  others  ought  to  bo  excluded 
regardless  of  every  other  consideration.  This  would  of  course  embrace 
colored  men  who  are  qualified.  You  are  therefore  correct  in  saying 
that  I  would  not  be  opposed  to  extending  the  right  of  suffrage  to 
colored  men  on  certain  conditions.  Put  the  inference  which  you  draw 
from  this,  and  which  you  state  as  a  fact,  viz  :  that  1  believe  in  the 
equality  of  the  white  and  black  races  is  a  non  sequitar  and  is  wrong. 
So  far  from  believing  thus  it  is  partially  for  the  very  reason  that  there 
is  no  such  equality  that  I  favor  the  regulation  of  suffrage  as  abo\o 
stated.  If  the  equality  existed  nobody  would  be  opposed  to  the  ex¬ 
tension  of  the  right  of  suffrage  to  the  colored  race.  Put  its  existence 
is  not  necessary  to  the  solution  of  this  question.  The  term  “equality 
of  the  races  ”  is  commonly  used  without  conveying  a  very  definite 
idea  of  its  meaning.  What  does  it  mean  ?  Taken  as  a  whole  race  1 
suppose  there  is  no  one  who  would  say  that  the  African  is  intellectual!  -v , 
moral lv,  or  numerically  equal  to  the  Caucasian  race.  Taken  individ¬ 
ually  I  suppose  there  is  no  one  who  would  say  that  an  African  who 
had  exactlv  the  same  amount  of  intellect  and  culture  mentally  and 

moral  lv  as  an  individual  white  man  was  not  his  equal  m  the  measure- 
% 


12 


*nent  of  manhood.  As  to  social  equality  it  is  only  necessary  to  say 
that  such  a  thing  does  not  exist  even  amongst  people  of  the  same  race 
an  any  part  of  the  world.  It  is  not  a.  question  of  physiology  or  ethics. 
It  is  simply  a  question  of  statesmanship  Avhether,  under  a  government 
4ill  whose  powers  are  in  the  hands  of  the  people,  and  where  all  are 
free  and  equally  protected  in  their  persons  and  property,  a  discrimi¬ 
nation  should  be  made  in  regard  to  citizenship  against  persons  solely 
because  they  are  of  a  particular  race.  The  Siamese  Twins  are  entitled 
to  a  vote  in  North  Carolina,  and  I  think  they  have  exercised  the  right 
for  some  years.  Do  you  think  the  inhabitants  of  Siam  are  out 
“equals?”  You  and  I  think  that  the  Anglo-Saxon  is  the  highest 
human  development.  Ought  that  to  exclude  people  of  every  other 
race  from  the  ballot  box?  “The  equality  of  the  races”  under  our 
institutions  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  question  of  political  power. 
That  power  according  to  a  fundamental  principle  with  us  is  “vested 
in  and  derived  from  the  people .”  During  the  existence  of  slavery,  from 
the  very  necessity  of  things,  the  colored  race  was  not  regarded  as  a 
part  of  “the  people.”  The  Avar  has  wrought  a  great  transformation 
in  this  as  in  many  other  respects  in  our  government.  I  am  striving 
to  appreciate  this  change  in  all  its  aspects — to  take  in  fully  the  Avhole 
situation.  It  seems  to  me  that  by  excluding  every  colored  man  from 
the  polls  now  and  for  the  future  Ave  stultify  ourselves  and  pronounce 
a  bitter  satire  upon  our  “free  institutions.” 

I  have  endeavored  briefly  to  point  out  the  principle  which  governs 
my  opinions  on  this  subject,  but  have  said  nothing  about  the  policy  of 
adopting  them.  The  latter  seems  to  me  to  be  as  expedient  as  the  for¬ 
mer  is  just.  I  knoAV  of  nothing  which  will  so  certainly  remove  the 
most  bitter  cause  of  dissension  from  our  politics  as  the  adoption  of  a 
qualified  suffrage  applicable  to  all  It  is  certainly  most  desirable  to 
Temove  the  subject  out  of  the  political  arena,  and  I  can  see  no  injury 
likely  to  arise  to  the  people  of  North  Carolina  by  removing  it  in  this 
way.  My  opinions  are  those  *of  a  man  born  and  reared  in  the  south, 
formerly  the  owner  of  a  few  slaves,  and  'having  perhaps  as  much  of 
what  is  called  the  “ prejudice  of  color”  as  others  under  like  circum¬ 
stances.  Those  circumstances  Avere  as  likely  to  strengthen  that  preju¬ 
dice  as  any  which  ever  surrounded  others  who,  like  yourself,  were  rear¬ 
ed  in  a  different  part  of  the  country.  But  prejudice  is  not,  I  believe,  the 
chief  quality  of  a  statesman,  and  ought  not  to  control  or  be  a  chief 
element  in  the  decision  of  great  political  questions. 

I  am,  sir,  very  respectfully, 


A.  M.  WADDELL. 


